In 1979 Russia invaded Afghanistan. In a response designed to show America’s displeasure, then President Jimmy Carter, chose not to allow our athletes to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, depriving many of these competitors, their one time, hard won, opportunity to compete in the “Games.”. To be fair, 64 other countries also boycotted the Moscow Olympics.
The boycott was a political act.
Highland Park’s School Board decision to deprive the girls basketball team of their opportunity to compete in Arizona, was also a political act, and a stupid one at that. If the decision had been about safety, as District officials alleged, the District would have pulled out of the tournament prior to the states passage of Arizona’s new immigration law.
The citizens of Arizona will willingly tell you about their “safety problem.” That’s why they created the law!
I recognize that school districts are political animals. They get their operating monies from the taxpayers, and Board Members are voted into or out of office.
Let School District 113’s experience be a lesson to other School Boards. The children you claim to “do it for” are not pawns to be used to serve your political agenda’s.
I really did try to find a Non-Fox-News Youtube video.
One would think that this School Board and Board of Education would have enough on their plate in trying to improve their district’s academic achievements scores and bringing their teacher and administrator payroll costs under control.
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Another School system displays a lack of common sense this week.
The reason for this insanity is “zero tolerance.” Zero tolerance is the policy of “applying laws or penalties to even minor infringements of a code in order to reinforce its overall importance.” Why zero tolerance? Zero tolerance frees school systems from decision-making responsibilities and, they believe, shields them from public criticism.
Zero Tolerance = No Responsibility!
I think the guys in Georgia should lighten up.
WARNING: This video is: A little adult. A little offensive. I hope it helps!
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Five working days later, I received the following e-mail.
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I would like to thank Mr. Eric Poder at the Voice of Morton Grove website for delivering to me this morning, video recordings of EMSD#63’s School Board Meetings from January, 2009 through May, 2010.
The reason for my wishing these videos, is that I had not had the opportunity to personally attend these important meetings.
Mr. Poder indicated that 40 “enlightening” hours would be required to review everything.
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You see, FOIA’s do get their attention. Now we must wait to see if they actually do what they say.
Now that you have had a chance to review the “FOIA” legislation, let’s see if we can make the law more understandable and user friendly. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has been very helpful in this regard. Her office has provided us two web pages: "General Public Training" and “Frequently Asked Questions By the Public”. The training takes a few minutes and the FAQ provides good additional information.
A few points to keep in mind on your way to becoming a FOIA maven.
Most School Districts receive one or two FOIA requests in any given month. I have authored over 1,050 FOIA requests; the majority of them penned between 2005 and 2007. Do I know everything about FOIA’s? No. But I have had some success with them.
A couple of the things I learned during those years was that: all is not always as it seems, and the incident that prompts your question, is often times, a symptom of a much larger problem.
So, follow me and get ready to write your first FOIA but don’t forget to keep looking at the big picture.
Assuming you’ve done your homework and somewhat understand FOIA concepts, we’ll move on to Butterly’s five steps for FOIA requests.
Butterly's five steps for FOIA requests.
1. Pick your target 2. Determine who to send the FOIA to 3. Perfect your question 4. Send via e-mail 5. Await your answer.
East Maine School District #63 (EMSD#63) recently cried “poor” again, and held a public meeting in January 2010 to discuss the additional sale of millions of dollars in Bonds to help cover expenses. As you might recall, EMSD#63 passed a major tax increase referendum only a few years earlier.
EMSD#63’s Agenda/Minutes supporting this statement:
“Public Hearing on intent of the District to Sell Bonds and Regular Business Meeting / Jan 6 '10
1.03 Public Hearing Concerning the intent of the District to sell bonds in the amount of $3,500,000 for the purpose of paying claims against the District and in the amount of $5,000,000 for the purpose of increasing the working cash fund for the District”
Opinion & Musings
In light of this, or maybe even in spite of this, EMSD#63’s School Board, knowingly and without shame, continues to spend $900+ taxpayer dollars per day on, in my opinion, the questionable services currently being provided by former Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Williams.
Pick your target.
In this case, the target organization is East Maine School District #63 School Board.
Determine who to send the FOIA to.
One can not just send in a FOIA request that starts with the words: “to whom it may concern.” The law requires the public body you have chosen to FOIA, to assign a specific person to manage FOIA requests. We must (should) e-mail the district, in this case EMSD#63, to determine who that person is. I have already done so. The resulting e-mail series illustrate this process.
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Let's look at each question and see if any or all of them can be perfected. At the same time, let’s look at the information already available to the general public.
What do we know?
All we know for sure that the Journal-Topics on August 19, 2009, believed Dr. Williams was under a consulting contract or agreement.
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Assuming the Journal-Topics information is correct, we will first need to confirm the information presented in the article. Remember your seven good friends;who, what , when, where,how,why and how much? It’s time call them for duty. We will use them to guide us and to help us define as many of the remaining questions as we can.
Time to lay out your questions and thoughts.
This structured approach has worked well for me in the past.
Who: EMSD#63 School Board and Kathleen Williams, Retired Superintendant of Schools, East Maine School District #63.
What: Has Dr. Williams performed consulting services on behalf of herself or others at EMSD#63?
Subordinate Question(s)
What does the scope of work look like?
What does the contract say?
Who does Dr. Williams report to?
What do the progress reports say?
When will the contract end?
How much money can we expect to spend under this agreement/contract?
When: Were these services performed between July 1, 2009 and the date of this posting?
Subordinate Question(s)
What dates were these services performed?
Where: East Maine School District #63.
How: Why was the contract/(agreement) needed?
Subordinate Question(s)
Who was responsible for initiating the agreement?
Who was responsible for writing the agreement?
Who was responsible for voting for the agreement?
Note:The Journal-Topics said: “The Dist. 63 school board approved hiring Williams in June before her retirement.”
A review of the June, 2009 Board Minutes does not show such an agreement. Further, multiple viewings of the full June 3, 2009 EMSD#63 School Board Meeting video taken by Mr. Eric Poder of the Morton Grove Voice, fails to show any direct reference to the hiring of Dr. Williams.
A copy of those minutes are presented below for your review. A copy of the two part video can be obtained by contacting Mr. Poder at the Morton Grove Voice.
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Also, Dr. Clay reportedly also told the Journal-Topics: “Williams has no contract but will serve on an ‘as needed’ basis to assist district administrators.”
As one who is somewhat familiar with the goings on at EMSD#63, I can only ask: This Board? This District? No contract?
Why: Why is Dr. Williams' expertise required?
Opinion & Musings
The School Board had already hired Dr. Clay; “an intelligent, articulate, highly qualified and experienced Assistant Superintendant and former Principal,” to perform the duties of Superintendant.
Did the Board not think Dr. Clay capable of performing his duties when they hired him?
Were there no other currently employed EMSD#63 administrators available, who could lead, manage and advise the Board “on a large construction project involving four schools?”
Were there no other currently employed EMSD#63 administrators available who could lead, manage and advise the Board regarding “H1N1 flu contingencies?”
Did Dr. Williams fail to prepare her administrators while Superintendent, such that they would need mentoring by her or someone else when she left?
Journal-Topics went on to say: “Clay said Williams started the project last year and is being brought in to see it through to completion.”
Quite frankly, based on experience, skills, administrative position and the close availability of the District’s school nurse, I would have expected Mrs. Lynn Glickman, Executive Director of Personnel and Pupil Services, to be the lead person on that project.
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Dr. Williams was responsible to prepare the way for her staff and replacement, Dr. Clay. This, I believe, she did not adequately do. Had she had done so, her consulting, advising and mentoring services would not have been needed. Ergo, no $900 per day consulting gig.
The responsibility for this “situation” clearly rests with the School Board and with it’s President.
All this begs the questions: Did the School Board believe Dr. Clay incapable of performing all of the duties of Superintendant?
Was the School Board unwilling to risk failure of these important projects under former Superintendant Dr. Williams replacement?
Who’s idea was it to forgo other possibly more experienced candidates for Dr. Clay?
How Much: The Journal-Topics stated: “The district is paying Williams $900 per day.”
Subordinate Question(s)
Is that true?
How many “as needed” days has Dr. Williams worked in her capacity as consultant, advisor and mentor?
Also, what additional money has the District spent in support of this agreement?
Finally, when does the School Board expect this agreement to terminate?
Let’s start with EMSD#63’s Monthly Accounts Payable Reports. These reports, in PDF format, can be found as an attachment at the bottom of each Board Agenda.
After reviewing all of the Board Agendas posted between May, 2009 and April, 2010, I could not find any mention of a Board vote on an agreement with Dr. Williams.
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After reviewing the report, we can see that Dr. Williams was paid three times over non-consecutive months for ancillary items associated with consulting services. The check information can be found on pages 12, 17 and 20. Further, no other checks for consulting services were paid to Dr. Kathleen Williams, in her name!
The fact that there was check information printed on the Accounts Payable Report, proves that Dr. Williams was, and/or is consulting.
Subordinate Question(s)
How is she currently being paid?
Is it possible that Dr. Williams intends to perform all her work, invoice the district at the end of the project, and collect her money.
Is it possible that Dr. Williams is not operating under her own name?
Could she be operating as a partnership, corporation, LLC, etc.
Could Dr. Williams be working for another organization that already had or currently has, a contract with the District?
Could EMSD#63 be purchasing a tax deferred annuity or some other tax deferred investment instrument on her behalf, that would not necessarily show up under her name at this time?
As you can see, there are lots of questions to be answered.
Strategy.
Should we submit the initial FOIA requests one-question-at-a-time, or should we cast a larger net?
In this case, I’m choosing to throw the net. I can then submit additional single FOIA requests based on initial request responses, or as newly developed questions dictate.
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Send via e-mail.
FOIA Date: Tuesday, May 05, 2010 Number: 100505-001
Now, we must await our answer!
See, it wasn’t so hard. Was it? When EMSD#63’s answers come back, and when I’ve had time to review the response, I’ll write “Part –Three.”
It seems rather odd to me that District #63 requires the taxpayer to request separate Board Meeting minutes in order to supplement the meager information presented on theDistrict #63 website.
Prior to this recent change, it was possible for the non-attending stakeholder to quickly and efficiently read what transpired at District #63’s Board Meetings. This is no longer the case.
The new system does not facilitate transparency, just the opposite.
Teacher and Administrator payroll can be up 80% of a school district’s budget.
As you can see, this district's payroll increased at a substantial rate for most of the years studied, although, not as substantial as some other districts.
What kind of pay increases did you receive over the same period?
This district’s School Board needs to here from you!
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In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
Teacher and Administrator payroll can be up 80% of a school district’s budget.
As you can see, this district's payroll increased at a substantial rate for most of the years studied. The same is true for the last five years of the Superintendent salary.
What kind of pay increases did you receive over the same period?
This district’s School Board needs to here from you!
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
Teacher and Administrator payroll can be up 80% of a school district’s budget.
As you can see, this district's payroll increased at a substantial rate for most of the years studied. The same is true of the Superintendent salary between 2001 and 2007. A new Superintendent was hired in 2008.
What kind of pay increases did you receive over the same period?
This district’s School Board needs to here from you!
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west; But after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five, For I am busy then, As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea, For they are hungry men. But different folk have different views. I know a person small- She keeps ten million serving-men, Who get no rest at all!
She sends'em abroad on her own affairs, From the second she opens her eyes- One million Hows, two million Wheres, And seven million Whys!
It has often been said that Kipling was describing the six questions traditionally associated with good journalism. They are:who, what,when, where,howandwhy.For this series, I will add one more question:how much.
I recently received the following e-mail:
“Mr. Butterly,
In March, you published a Blog titled: “When is enough, enough.” Can you tell me if Dr. Williams is still consulting District 63? If so, does she have a contract? What is she doing? How many days has she worked? How much money have we paid for her services?
Thank you…..”
In “When is enough, enough” I expressed my disapproval of the $900 per day consulting agreement between former Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Williams and East Maine School District #63 (EMSD#63).
I told the E-mailer that I couldn’t answer the questions at this time but I would see what I could do. That’s when I decided to write a series of Blog postings on writing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
The series will be a free flowing process that will take a bit of time to complete. The rubric will be Kipling’s and Butterly’s seven questions. Our goal will be to answer the E-mailer’s five initial questions, and of course, any others that might develop as part of the investigation.
My ultimate goal is to teach you a disciplined and repeatable approach to investigating your School District’s activities, utilizing the Freedom of Information Act.
So, let’s end this post with the first question. What isFOIA?
Most of us received our taxpayer-funded education in a traditional setting; brick and mortar schools with the teacher standing or sitting in front and our peers seated around us. Today, Internet and other computer-based technology offer us alternatives to this time-honored learning model.
I recently heard an intriguing radio advertisement for an accredited on-line school, the National Connections Academy.After spending a little over an hour examining their web site and viewing the “Overview” presentation, I came away quite impressed.
I urge Districts #62, #63, #64 and #207 School Board Members, Board of Education Administrators, concerned parents and interested taxpayers to spend an hour or so at the site. Maybe we can learn something from them to more effectively transfer knowledge and skills from this generation to the next. We may even end up saving a buck or two.
The Park Ridge Underground (PRU) just published an Open Letter from a District #207 parent. I will not comment on her letter here as I have already commented on her letter at PRU. However, I think it’s important for other parents and fellow taxpayers to make their opinions known to the School Board and MTA Teachers Union; not only regarding the current Budget related problems but also on any other school related subject that may be of concern to them.
Ms. Hirshbine’s has set a good example for other District #207 parents to follow.
In order to better understand the depth of School District #207’s financial situation, I solicited the help of District #207 Business Manager, Ms. Mary Kalou. Ms Kalou provided me with the source document: “Eight Year Changes In Net Assets” report.
The original report was in a different format. I enhanced the report by reformatting to information and adding totals and differences by dollar and percentage. The data illustrates this district’s consistently rising costs. But there is probably more to learn.
One of the problems with only one person reviewing any report like this, is limited experience and judgment of any single viewer. Therefore, for this post, I have chosen to not comment (findings) on the report. Instead, I am asking for your help, by reviewing the report’s content and commenting on your findings.
So, please take a look at the report and tell us what you see.
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Dr. Dennis O’Keeffe, an internationally acknowledged expert on the subject of truancy and it’s causes, has just published his latest book on the subject.
.
Dr. O’Keeffe and I collaborated on minimizing truancy in Chicago High Schools in the mid-1990’s.
.
There’s no one more versed in the theoretical aspects of this subject.
Teacher and Administrator payroll can be up to 80% of a district’s budget.
I am treating the School District #207’s post a little different than the other districts. Unlike the others, this District's post has two reports attached.
The first report: “Comparison Report for District Superintendent,” is a summary study for all District #207 Teacher and Administrators and Superintendent payroll history covering school years 2001 through 2009. The second report: “Year to Year Pay Analysis 2005 – 2009,” is a detail study covering all District #207 Teachers and Administrators individually . Combined, they tell a story of extraordinary payroll growth and help to shed additional light on this district’s current financial problem.
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
The District #207 School Board and Board of Education are aggressively responding to their expected 2011 budget deficit. The Board recently announced a reduction in the number of teachers expected to report for duty next year.
There is a great line in the movie The Fugitive. Harrison Ford (the fugitive) is running away from Tommy Lee Jones (the US Marshal). The fugitive, when finally cornered, turns to the marshal and screams, "I didn't kill my wife!" The marshal responds: "I don't care!"
Well that’s how I am starting to feel when I read in the paper about how difficult a teacher’s life is or how teachers and administrators are required to bring non-direct-teaching-related skills or qualities to the job.
When I was a young and inexperienced Project Manager in the 1970’s, I dared to complain to my boss (mentor & friend) that I wasn’t making enough money and that I felt unappreciated. I will always remember his response.
He said: “Look Ken, enough whining already! You knew the job was dangerous when you took it! You are not indispensable and can easily be replaced. Of course, if you think you can do better, you can always quit. Now, go back to work!”
Back then I was lucky to have a job. Back then, as today, there were plenty of other qualified people looking for work. What my boss said was pretty harsh, but he taught me three valuable lessons. Don’t be so quick to complain. Hold on to what you have. Be grateful for having a job to complain about.
Teachers and administrators claim to be professionals. Harping about how difficult your job is or how your job sucks are not attributes normally associated with professional behavior.
I have friends who are teachers; quite a few actually. Those working in less affluent districts are envious of our teachers and administrators. Who can blame them?
Let me give my teacher and administrator friends at District 207 and surrounding districts a little advice.
Enough whining already! It’s unseemly. You knew the job was dangerous when you took it! You are not indispensable and you and I know that your position can be eliminated. Of course, if you think you can do better, you can always quit. Now, let's get on with the job!
Teacher and Administrator payroll can be up 80% of a school district’s budget.
As you can see, historically, this district spent taxpayer monies fairly well overall. However, the passing of a sizable tax increase referendum in 2004did not appear to completely bring the School Board to it’s budgetary senses, at least as it relates to Superintendent salaries.
This district’s School Board needs to here from you!
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Teacher and Administrator payroll can be up 80% of a school district’s budget.
This district spent your money like it was theirs before the tax increase referendum and I guess just couldn’t seem to stop. I hope District #64 taxpayers are getting their moneys worth.
This district’s School Board needs to hear from you.
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In my last post: When is Enough, Enough, I included a combination nine and five year payroll analysis for East Maine School District #63.
The report is designed to give the reader a chance to view district total payroll amounts over time. Nine years was as far back as I was prepared to go. The report includes two sections: a nine year payroll history for all Teachers and Administrators employed by the District and a nine year and five year comparison for the Superintendent position.
Over the next few weeks, I intend to publish, in no particular order, similar individual reports for the following Chicago suburban school districts. They are:
Arlington Hgts. SD #25
CCSD #59
Des Plaines SD #62
East Prairie SD #73
East Prairie SD #73 ½
Evanston CCSD #65
Fairview SD #72
Glenview CCSD #34
Golf ESD #67
Kenilworth SD 38
Lincolnwood SD #74
Maine Township #207
Morton Grove SD #70
Mount Prospect SD #57
Niles SD #71
Niles Township CHSD 219
Northbrook Glenview SD#30
Northbrook SD #27
Northbrook SD #28
Palatine CCSD #15
Park Ridge CCSD #64
Prospect Hgts. SD #23
River Trails SD #26
Rosemont SD #78
Schaumburg CCSD #54
Skokie SD #68
Skokie SD #69
Sunset Ridge SD #29
West Northfield SD #31
Wheeling CCSD #21
Wilmette SD #37
Wilmette SD #39
Winnetka SD #36.
The reasons for publishing these reports are simple. Property taxes are increasing, school district budgets are getting tighter, and because I can.
The data source for these reports is Champion News. Their source was the State of Illinois Board of Education.
East Maine School District #63 continues to make news. In a story written in the Journal-Topics on August 19, 2009, we were informed that recently retired from EMSD#63 Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Williams, had been awarded a consulting contract for an unspecified number of days, at $900 per day.
The article went on to say that Dr. Williams was being contracted to advise the District:
“…on a large construction project involving four schools, to prepare H1N1 flu contingencies with other school officials and to mentor several new administrators including her replacement Supt. Dr. Scott Clay.”
“In addition to Clay, the district has several new senior administrators Williams will help mentor including a district executive director of curriculum and instruction, executive director of personnel and pupil services, director of special services to oversee special education and health, two interim principals at Washington, two interim principals at Mark Twain and an assistant principal at Gemini Jr. High.”
“School Board President Jane Wojtkiewicz could not immediately be reached for comment.”
At first I found this situation rather odd. In hindsight, I can see why this agreement might have been necessary. The School Board apparently took “someone’s” advice on hiring these seemingly unqualified former underlings, possibly on the cheap, although I doubt that, and needed, at least for a year or so, access to a “highly qualified and award winning” superintendent for guidance, ergo, Dr. Williams.
Now, I have two questions.
First: Why are the EMSD#63 taxpayers paying full-time salaries to apprentice these "highly qualified" professionals.
Second: School Board President Wojtkiewicz and Dr. Williams; when is enough, enough?
Please take a moment to review the enclosed nine-year payroll study for EMSD#63 teachers and administrators. This report covers school years 2001 through 2009. Dr. Williams was superintendent during the entire time. The report is divided into three sections. They are:
all teachers and administrators (AT&A)
superintendent all nine years (SA9Y)
superintendent last five years (SL5Y).
The last five years, 2005 through 2009 are the years covered in Dr. Williams final five-year contract prior to retirement.
The AT&A data show an increase in payroll growth only slightly higher than the growth of inflation. The increases in SA9Y and SL5Y payroll growth are obscene.
In order to read the full report, click on Fullscreen view. Move your mouse over, and to the sides of the document. A cursor hand will appear. Click your mouse and you will be able to page through the report.
Is Dr. Williams to blame for this situation? Not at all! She is a very shrewd and intelligent woman. I don’t blame her for taking advantage of these opportunities. I mean, that last five-year contractwas a doozy and $900 a day ain’t chickenfeed!
The bottom line is this. The District can no longer afford to pay for the former Superintendent's services.
The problem is: This School Board can’t seem to get enough of Dr. Kathleen Williams and Dr. Williams can’t seem to let go.
When I first started this Blog in 2006, I did so with the intent of chronicling the actions of East Maine School District #63. Over time, more pressing problems diverted my attention from those activities. Recently, my interest peaked when Maine Township #207, the other school district sharing my real-estate taxes, found itself short of funds and unable to convince the local teachers union to take a smaller pay increase in order to save fellow untenured teachers and help balance the District budget.
After publishing three "Open" letters and two reports on that Park Ridge UndergroundBlog site on the subject: Essay#1, Essay #2, Essay #3, I decided that maybe it was time to reenter the fray. So, I have changed the masthead to reflect the new direction of the Blog and hope that you’ll come around to take a look from time-to-time and comment as you see fit.
